Many types of printed circuit boards are interconnected or connected to other electrical devices through the agency of connectors having projecting banks of terminals that overlay discrete contact pads formed along one or more edges of the circuit boards. With the advent of miniaturization and the consequent increase in circuit component density, more and more finite circuit paths are utilized that are terminated in closely spaced contact pads formed along both the upper and lower edge sections of the circuit boards. External connections from the board are made through banks of spaced pairs of terminals, thus necessitating the use of connectors with large numbers of closely spaced projecting flexible terminals. In order to assemble the connector in the board, considerable forces must be used, often resulting in bent terminals, gouged or marred contact pads, tangled terminals and misaligned terminals and corresponding contact pads.
In order to alleviate these problems, many diverse types of so-called zero force connectors have been developed. In these connectors complex mechanisms are built into the connector to forcibly spread the contact terminals prior to assembly of the connector and the circuit board. The mechanisms may be screw-operated, such as shown in W. C. Kent U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,458 issued July 8, 1980, or cam operated, such as shown in B. K. Arnold U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,154 issued June 24, 1979, or linkage operated, such as shown in M. L. Yeager U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,782 issued Sept. 13, 1977. In each instance, the terminal spreading facility is incorporated in the connector, thus resulting in complex structures of considerable cost. What is needed is a simple positive acting apparatus for spreading terminals on a succession of individual connectors to receive edge contact pads formed on printed circuit boards. Such an apparatus must be operable with a minimum of expenditure of energy and must not introduce any detrimental stresses, such that would permanently set the terminals in a distorted condition.